SpaceX’s Latest Achievement: Floating a 70-meter Rocket Over the Sea. Starship V2’s Departure as Pure Science Fiction.
For a few seconds, physics seemed to give in. A 70-meter-tall steel cylinder – equivalent to a 24-story building – slowly descended over the Gulf of Mexico. Its fall was so controlled, so smooth, that it gave the sensation of floating. And Elon Musk decided to bid farewell to it with a spectacle worthy of science fiction.
A steel giant that learned to fall
The 33 Raptor engines of the Super Heavy Booster 15 roared in unison and lifted the world’s largest rocket for the last time from the . But the most impressive part was not the takeoff, but the return.
After stage separation, the booster tested a new braking sequence that brought it one step closer to full recovery. It ignited twelve engines to brake abruptly, then reduced to five to fine-tune its fall. The result was a choreography of fire and control:
For a few seconds, . Then it fell and self-destructed, leaving behind a trail of steam and shiny metal.
The ship that endured hell
Meanwhile, . In just eight minutes, it reached its suborbital trajectory and shut down its six Raptor engines to begin its descent over the Indian Ocean. For the first time, it opened its cargo bay and gently deployed eight Starlink satellite simulators, demonstrating that the cargo system is ready to operate.
Then came the riskiest test: reentry. had deliberately removed several tiles from the heat shield to measure the vehicle’s limits under extreme heat. What followed was a storm of orange plasma enveloping the ship, while onboard cameras showed a mesmerizing spectacle: the ship slowly rotating, surrounded by fire, surviving hell.
At 66 minutes of flight, : a dynamic turn to simulate the future tower landing and a final braking before falling into the sea, intact.
The end of an era and the birth of the next
This flight was not just a test, but a transition ritual. With it, bids farewell to the Block 2 vehicles, a generation marked by explosions, redesigns, and advances that laid the groundwork for what’s to come. Platform 1, the stage for eleven launches, will be dismantled and rebuilt to accommodate the next stage of the program:
The new version will be taller, more powerful, and equipped with Raptor 3 engines, a hot separation system, and newly designed aerodynamic grids. It will also incorporate adapters for in-orbit fuel transfer, a critical maneuver for NASA’s lunar missions.
Meanwhile, SpaceX is finalizing Platform 2, which will receive the first launches of the V3. It will be from there that will attempt to fulfill its promise: reach orbit and demonstrate that Starship can deploy satellites, refuel in space, and, someday, take humans to the Moon and Mars.
